


A Witch and her Devil

by AllosaurusJei



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cussing, Demons, F/M, Magic, Rituals, Witchcraft, Witches, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 00:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13306290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllosaurusJei/pseuds/AllosaurusJei
Summary: A world where demons roam free, magic abounds and the dangerous Grand Frontier holds the hopes and dreams of every adventurer hostage.Witches are hunted for sport and 'Justice'.In this world a 'deal with a devil' is no metaphor.It is literal.It is dangerous.It is taboo.It is the only way Nami is making it out of this alive.





	A Witch and her Devil

She was hurt…

 _Bad_.

Her blood-slick hand clenched into a fist as she ran. Hearing the hoot of the ghoulish bandits behind her caused her pace to quicken.  
_Huh_ , she thought as she ran, _and here I thought I’d pulled the wool over that monster clown’s eyes_. She huffed and grunted as she vaulted a large log in a bound. _Seems Ol’ Buggy isn’t as stupid as the rumours made him out to be_. _Still_ … She grimaced in half-hearted pleasure as her other hand held tight to the bandit leader’s nearly ancient rucksack.  
She finally had it. The key to evicting those horrible fucking monsters from her life. Through all the hysteria and adrenaline she began to laugh…

Which turned out to be the biggest mistake she’d yet made.

When her tumbling stopped, both her ankles were sprained and her wounds and clothes were in an even worse state. The low grumble of the cave lion sent sweat shivering along her spine and caused what was left in her bladder to simply let go. Tears ran silently down her face. _Fuck sobbing_ , she told her self and managed barely to keep her breathing steady.  
“Gotcha now,” An almost furry man approached from behind the great cat. Mohji, Buggy’s twisted little ranger-reject. “I mean, you were never going far. Richie so does love to play with thieving little cats.”  
“Miserable prick.” She summoned up all her defiance and spat at him. Richie bared his teeth and snarled, causing her to flinch back instinctively. Mohji just laughed.  
“Didja really think you could pull one past Lord Buggy?” he leant in close and assaulted her with his breath. “He knew you was a _witch_ from the start. He’s a proper fucking Devil you know! How’d you think this was gonna go?!”  
She smirked, bladder empty and shock beginning to dull her own sense of mortality. “Honestly… A whole lot better. But if you’re going to kill me would you just get it over with. It’s gonna have to be less painful than looking at you for any longer.”  
“BITCH!” He smacked her with a backhand generally reserved for disciplining horses or the hardiest of rogues.  
She actually lifted from the ground a little and then seemingly disappeared from sight when she landed.  
Mohji listened to her pained screams as she tumbled down a nearby riverbank. He peered over the foliage to see her laying splayed out on the muddy riverbed, still holding his Lord’s bag tight. The bank was too steep to descend unharmed for he and his cat for nearly a mile in either direction.  
“Darn…” he spat back at the seemingly unconscious girl. “Well, ain’t like she’s goin’ anywhere. C’mon Richie.” He set off and his pet lion snorted before padding after him like a puppy.

The witch groaned in dull agony. It was entirely pervasive. Her wounds - _Probably infected_. Her ankles - _Useless_. Her ribs - _Poking into my lungs_.  
“What a shitty way to die.” She moaned at the sky, its cheery blueness completely depressing her. _Shit, even the weather’s against me_.  
“Well quit dyin’ then.” A nonchalant voice sounded out what she thought her inner monologue might say.  
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that mister voice-in-my-head. Right after I magically make this river flow with rum and coconuts.”  
“Wait! I’m in your head?” _This hallucination is pretty good, I can almost hear him chewi_ \- *CRUNCH* “That means I ain’t in this cage right? And-and-and-and when I wake up I’ll get to eat proper meat and not just water rats. Wicked.” The gravely injured girl turned her head to the right to see a man - _a boy_ , she corrected herself - standing in a cage, one arm loosely leaning out between the bars and the other holding what looked like a half-eaten otter. He saw her staring at him and beamed, teeth bloody as her clothes and owl-like Devil’s eyes crinkling with friendliness. “Yo!”  
“…hi.”  
He took another bite of river mammal and chewed for a moment, blankly staring at her before offering the carcass to her with a “mm?”  
She shook her head and he swallowed and belched.  
“More for me then. But I always feel better after I’ve had some meat y’know?”  
“I don’t - ** _cough_** \- think a bit of rat is going to help at this juncture, demon.” His eyes narrowed and he mouthed _*junk-chore*_ before shrugging.  
“Shame you ain’t like me then. I’d be healed up in a jiffy… or like a couple of jiffys.” He looked pensive for a moment. “How many jiffys in a day?”  
“Yeah,” she gave him a sad smile. “I don’t think a day would make a difference if that lion gets a hold of me first.”  
“Aw what!” He dropped his meal in the mud. “That arsehole’s still around? Man! He’s so mean y’know? He keeps scratching me every time I try to catch him.”  
The witch-girl stared at him in his cage, wondering what he did to get locked away, or even why he was still locked away. _Maybe he’s a weakling?_ She asked herself, though a glance at the taut muscles in his arms and legs quickly dismissed that possibility. It was while looking him over that they locked eyes, had she been less exhausted maybe the intensity in his eyes would have provoked a little shyness. As it was, she didn’t turn her glance and they simply stared at each other. _So deep_. What was he thinking, she couldn’t tell. Only get a profound sense of empathy and… irritation?  
“Wha-”  
“Hey are you really going to just lie down and die?” He seemed sad and furious at the same time.  
“…” She was at a loss for words. Tears rolled down her nose and into the soggy ground beneath her. “What else can I do. I’m bleeding, broken and a thousand miles from anyone that would help something like me.”  
He stared at her in angry confusion. “An elf?” Clearly not understanding the question.  
“A _witch_!”  
.  
.  
.  
“You’re a witch?!” His beaming, bloody smile shocked her. He turned form the cage and danced about laughing. “Shishishi. YES!”  
“Huh?” She’d never seen anyone this excited after hearing that before.  
“You! What’s your name?!” He slammed against the bars and pointed at her.  
“What?” She had a slight feeling she’d have been more indignant, but dying gives a girl a whole lot of perspective on what to get angry about. _And it seems a laughing devil boy shouting for my name ain’t all that important. Who knew…_  
“C’mooon,” he whined now, still beaming. “Tell me your name. I can’t do it proper if I don’t have your name.”  
Do what ‘proper’? She wondered, a strange reminiscent feeling tickling her mind while she feebly replied. “Nami… My name is Nami.”  
“Nyihihihi. Alright!” He pumped his fist before hunching down and glaring at her with glowing red eyes and the same happy, gory grin. “ **Nami** …” She felt her entire body tingle at the power he put into the single word. “ **How d’you feel about making a deal with a devil?** ”

It was those words.

Words feared and revered by Witches and the Forces of Order for thousands of years.

Why wouldn’t they be?

Aside from some of the more Godlike Elementals, the strongest amongst the Demonkin had always been the Devils. Wielding strange magicks innately and in possession of powerful mutant bodies, they often became sorcerers of great and terrible repute. Capable of lifting buildings with their mind, draining armies of their will to fight in seconds or crack mountains in half with the flick of the wrist. They were a dire threat even before you took into account their wild card.

The Contract. Sometimes known as a Covenant or Compact. It was an oath. A curse and a blessing.

A magical resonance that could bring about things few could even dream of; Esoteric and Universal Knowledge, Worldwide Adoration and Terror, Near-immortality.

Miracles.

A boon only those with Devil’s blood could offer. But not to just anyone. Only to a Magician who had rejected the sterile path of Order.

A Witch.

“You…” Nami began. “Y-you want to make a Contract with me?”  
“Yup.” His voice had lost its mystical edge, but his eyes were still aflame.  
“But… You know what that means right?” She remembered now the details of a Devil’s Contract. It placed both parties into a psychic and mystical bond that allowed them to compel each other like servants. _Slaves_ , she corrected herself. There was no way to refuse or disobey. Hence why she had forgotten it, _I didn’t want to be anyone **else’s** slave_. And now here this devil-boy just casually suggested they hand over their own free will.  
“Yep.” He nodded. “You heal up thanks to my blood and I use your magic to bust outta here and go wild.”  
“What!” His glibness regarding a dangerous and taboo ritual managing to ignite some of her anger. “How could you be so fricking casual about this. You realise you’re basically offering to be my slave! What if I was evil?! Wha-”  
“Are you evil?” the genuine curiosity in his tone threw her for just a moment before indignation rushed back, a comfortable and familiar feeling for her.  
“Of course not!” she shouted at him, rolling her broken body towards the cage, numb with fury as she was.  
He just smiled and giggled in that strange way again. “Nyihihihi. Cool, me neither.” Then he held out a hand before looking down at it in confusion. “Oh right… Don’t have a knife. Um.”  
He glanced about his cage for a while and even in her direction before shrugging and lifting his palm to his hand.  
Nami heard a soft fleshy noise accompanying his groan of effort and blood started gushing down his arm. Taken aback at the reality of the situation, Nami reacted in the only way she was currently comfortable doing.  
“Then why are you locked away in a cage, huh?” She rolled onto her front, barely able to stand resting on her arms. Glaring at him. “Here?! In the middle of nowhere!”  
“Um…”  
“I’m supposed to just take the word of some demon I’ve never met. Whose name I don’t know. Locked in a _magic_ cage and buried in a forgotten river!”  
“Haha, I guess not…” he glanced down the river and grimaced. “I’m gonna say now ain’t the best time to tell a story though.”  
“Huh? What are you-”  
“They’re coming.” He looked at her, pleading now. “Please. We’ve got a minute at best.”  
She spared a glance away from his desperate face in the direction he’d just looked. Sure enough there on the edge of sight were two figures, one much taller and bulkier. She swallowed rough and though her mind was still fighting against it, her body had apparently decided for her. Crawling forward on her elbows as fast as her battered form could manage.

  
Further up the riverbed Mohji now noticed that the witch was crawling towards… “Oh shit! That brat in the cage, I forgot about him.” A witch and a devil in those sorts of desperate straits. “Fucking hell no!” He began to sprint, trying to close the distance before the worst could happen. “Richie! SIC HER!”

  
Nami heard the shout and reached for the devil boy’s hand, drawing back at the last moment and staring deep into his eyes. His expression a little hurt even with the fire-glow eyes.  
“Nami! There’s no time!”  
“I can’t!” She found tears streaming down her cheeks. “How can I? What if you killed someone? - _ **hic**_ \- What if you use my magic to kill someone? What if you…” she sobbed, unable to finish the last thought, memories still fresh even years later. “I - _ **hic**_ \- don’t even know your name. How can I trust you?” His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed upriver.  
“LUFFY!” he shouted. “M’names Luffy! A bad witch locked me in here ‘cos I didn’t want to sleep with her, ain’t ever killed nobody yet, wasn’t planning on it either. I’m 18, I like meat and adventure and…” there were small tears in his eyes, “I don’t wanna watch you die. Now Nami… **what do you want me to do?** ”  
His bloody hand held towards her suddenly seemed a lot less grisly as the roar of the lion reverberated in her skull.  
Her grip was like iron and actually shocked Luffy a little. Their blood mingled and she forced what power she had into the connection and her words.  
“ **Please help me!** ”

It happened at the speed of thought. His body burned with power and began to glow a soft red. Steam billowing off the both of them as the giant cat pounced to maul the witch.  
The bars in front of Luffy crumbled like charcoal at his touch and he grinned, this one feral and far more terrifying than before. “Gotcha!” he shouted at the lion, and he had. Grabbing it by its ears and yanking its face to his. “Now try scr-OWWW!”  
Richie did indeed try scratching him again and the melee barely a foot away from her face had Nami screwing up her eyes to avoid mud getting into them. When she next looked it seemed her devil had been kicked into the damp river bank, sinking slightly as the front of his ratty red shirt fell away. _Now is hardly the time to get distracted by those_ , her rational mind insisted and she instead focused on trying to shrink away from the two predators going at it.  
“ _Grrrr_ …” Luffy _growled_ like a beast. “ _Bastard_.” He stood and with a punch so fast it was almost invisible, flung the lion across the river and into the other bank.  
It didn’t get up.  
Mohji roared as he closed the distance and pulled out a dangerous looking machete. “How dare you hurt my lion!”  
Luffy simply spat blood and looked at his witch… battered and mauled, then put himself between them as the wildman rushed forward.  
Nami felt the strength drain from her as she looked up at that implacable red back. Whatever magic that was causing the steam beginning to make her drowsy.  
The last words on her lips as she drifted off to sleep were a plea to her protector.  
“ **…always… please.** ”  
“Yeah,” his voice low and seemingly right in her ear. “Of course I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> don't know when I'll have the first chapter done but its gonna be a longish one.
> 
> hoped you enjoyed the prologue.
> 
> any criticisms and suggestions are much appreciated and I'll answer any questions you ask unless I'm specifically saving them for the story.


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